With Jason Richardson heading to Orlando and Keith Bogans' future with the Bulls uncertain, the attention in Chicago's camp appears to have moved away from Jamal Crawford and shifted instead to 2004 NBA champion Rip Hamilton. A member of the Detroit Pistons since the 2002-03 season, Hamilton fell out of favor with former coach John Kuester and long story short, was waived by his longtime team on Friday. Back in Chicago, the Bulls have sparked quite an interest in the veteran shooting guard, especially Derrick Rose, who has made his fandom to Hamilton known. Maybe he's not the best solution to the team's woes at the two, but considering the salary demands of who's available and the overall options at that position, Hamilton may be the best way to go, but there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical.
Hamilton may not have gotten along with the Pistons' coaching staff at the end of his time with that team, but health should be more of a concern. In the last three seasons, he has averaged only 56 games. A more troubling area might be his scoring numbers. His 14.1 PPG last season was the lowest since he first came into the league. It bears repeating that the lack of a true second scoring option, and really a two guard who can be relied on for offense, doomed the Bulls in last year's conference finals. Hamilton turns 34 on February 14, so it's not like he's getting any younger.
Still, I'd be willing to give Hamilton a chance. The way I see it, only two things can happen: his scoring will continue to decline or he'll get back up to at least close to his career 17.7 average. With luck, he'd be able to make up for any deficiencies by the likes of Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng. I'd also trust him more as a consistent shooter than Kyle Korver, who as we know, went ice cold in the postseason save for the first few games.
If Rose trusts him like he says he does, this is a backcourt duo that can do some good things together. Pair the reigning MVP with a proven winner and who knows what they can accomplish? Rose would clearly do most of the penetrating that a guard is expected to do, but Hamilton could probably show some flashes of doing that. Give him an open lane to the basket and he'll be off to the races to put the ball in the hoop. I also like the idea of Hamilton as a kickout option. It wouldn't even necessarily be a result of Rose driving to the hoop and then going out. Deng, Boozer and Noah can all be found near the baseline or grabbing rebounds before they find a cutting Hamilton just waiting for the ball after getting open.
All that said, I would be more than happy to have Hamilton in a Bulls uniform. Hey, the face mask couldn't possibly be more disappointing than the afro a few years back, right?
A special post is coming tomorrow, so stay tuned for that. Yeah, I know I've only been at this for a few days, but this is still gonna be special.
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